Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
DETAILED ACTION
Election/Restrictions
Claims 8-21 were previously withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, and remain withdrawn.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1-4, 23-24 and 26 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 20170197262, Kume, in view of US 20040103540, Tilley and the teachings of USPN 3339597; Kohler and in view of US 20040140781; Craven.
Regarding Claim 1, Kume discloses A cut-off tool (abstract) comprising:
a housing (combination of motor housing 21 main body 10 and handle 40) including a motor housing portion (21), a handle portion (40) extending along a handle axis (longitudinal axis of handle 40 in a direction transverse to the motor housing portion (21, see fig 2), a first lateral side and a second lateral side separated by a reference plane (see annotated fig 2 below), the reference plane containing the handle axis and oriented perpendicular to the motor housing portion (fig 2 annotate below),
an arbor (17) supported by the housing for relative movement therewith (since the arbor moves the blade relative to the housing), the arbor rotatable about a rotational axis of the arbor (17, par 0035), the rotational axis extending through the motor housing portion (fig 2 and fig 4 and see par. 0037);
a cutting disk (2) attachable to the arbor (par. 0035);
a motor 20 (par 0024) coupled to the arbor to provide torque thereto (to rotatably drive the tool par 0034), the motor supported by the motor housing portion (See par 0034);
a trigger 42.
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Kume lacks: Feature I: a combined motor activation/forward-reverse switch connected to the trigger the switch being operable to adjust rotation of the motor between a first rotational direction and an opposite, second direction for selectively rotating the cutting disk in the first rotational direction or second rotational direction (Claim 1), and Feature II: a first indicator on the first lateral side of the housing, and a second indicator on the second lateral side of the housing, a shuttle 14 supported by the housing, the shuttle being configured to receive input from a user; and a combined motor activation/forward-reverse switch connected to the trigger and the shuttle the switch being operable to adjust rotation of the motor between a first rotational direction and an opposite, second direction for selectively rotating the cutting disk in the first rotational direction or second rotational direction, respectively; wherein the shuttle is movable between a plurality of positions relative to the housing, wherein a first position of the shuttle adjacent the first indicator corresponds to the first rotational direction of the motor and the cutting disk, and wherein a second position of the shuttle adjacent the second indicator corresponds to the second rotational direction of the motor and the cutting disk; and wherein a position of the shuttle adjacent to the first indicator indicates that an instantaneous rotational direction of the motor and the cutting disk is the first rotational direction and a position of the shuttle adjacent the second indicator indicates that the instantaneous rotational direction of the motor and the cutting disk is the second rotational direction (Claim 1), and the switch is positioned adjacent the handle portion (Claim 2), and wherein the trigger selectively activates the motor; and the shuttle is positioned proximate the trigger for actuating the switch between the first position and the second position (Claim 3), and the shuttle includes a user input portion positioned adjacent the trigger the user-input portion configured to receive user input to laterally move the shuttle relative to the handle portion between the plurality of positions (Claim 4), and the movement of the shuttle towards the first position indicates the instantaneous rotational direction of the motor and the cutting disk in the first rotational direction (claim 23) and the movement of the shuttle towards the second position indicates the instantaneous rotational direction of the motor and the cutting disk in the second rotational direction (Claim 24) and first indicator is a letter (Claim 26).
Regarding Feature I: Tilley discloses handheld motorized saw (Abstract), in the same field of endeavor as the handheld motorized saw of Kume and of the present invention, and discloses that in such an assembly it is beneficial to include a combined motor activation/forward-reverse switch connected to the trigger the switch being operable to adjust rotation of the motor between a first rotational direction and an opposite, second direction for selectively rotating the cutting disk in the first rotational direction or second rotational direction (par. 0019), and Kohler discloses that in a handheld motorized saw assembly (See Abstract) in the same field of endeavor as handheld motorized saw assembly, of Kume and of the present invention, and discloses that in such an assembly it is known and beneficial to have the motor and blade move in forward and reverse directions (col. 2, 34-55), in order to allow the blade to direct dust in a preferred direction after cutting (col. 2, 34-55).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to further modify Kume by including the device having a combined motor activation/forward-reverse switch connected to the trigger the switch being operable to adjust rotation of the motor between a first rotational direction and an opposite, second direction for selectively rotating the cutting disk in the first rotational direction or second rotational direction in order to allow the blade to direct dust in a preferred direction after cutting as taught by Tilley and Kohler.
Regarding Feature II: Craven discloses handheld motorized cutting tool in the same field of endeavor as the handheld motorized cutting tool of Kume and of the present invention, and involved with the shared problem of reversing a cutter and motor as the present invention and includes a first indicator on the first lateral side of the housing (“F”), and a second indicator (“R”) on a second lateral side of a housing (figs 1-3), a trigger 4; a shuttle 14 supported by the housing (FIG 1-2), the shuttle being configured to receive input from a user (PAR. 0026); and a combined motor activation/forward-reverse switch (6) connected to the trigger and the shuttle (fig. 3) the switch being operable to adjust rotation of the motor between a first rotational direction and an opposite, second direction for selectively rotating the cutting disk in the first rotational direction or second rotational direction (par 0026), respectively; wherein the shuttle is movable between a plurality of positions relative to the housing (par 0027 and fig 3), wherein a first position of the shuttle adjacent the first indicator corresponds to the first rotational direction of the motor and the cutting disk, and wherein a second position of the shuttle adjacent the second indicator corresponds to the second rotational direction of the motor and the cutting disk (fig 2 and see par. 0027); and wherein a position of the shuttle adjacent to the first indicator indicates that an instantaneous rotational direction of the motor and the cutting disk is the first rotational direction and a position of the shuttle adjacent the second indicator indicates that the instantaneous rotational direction of the motor and the cutting disk is the second rotational direction (par 0027 and fig. 2) (Claim 1), and the switch 16 is positioned adjacent the handle portion (fig 3a) (Claim 2), and wherein the trigger selectively activates the motor; and the shuttle is positioned proximate the trigger for actuating the switch between the first position and the second position (see par 0020-0021) (Claim 3), and the shuttle includes a user input portion (top portion of shuttle 14) positioned adjacent the trigger (fig 2), the user-input portion configured to receive user input to laterally move the shuttle relative to the handle portion between the plurality of positions (par 0027) (Claim 4), and the movement of the shuttle towards the first position indicates the instantaneous rotational direction of the motor and the cutting disk in the first rotational direction (par 0027) (claim 23) and the movement of the shuttle towards the second position indicates the instantaneous rotational direction of the motor and the cutting disk in the second rotational direction (par 0027). (Claim 24) and first indicator (F) is a letter (fig 1-2) (Claim 26), in order to allow the forward reverse switch to be easily seen by a user during actuation thereof and thus avoid the switch being inadvertently actuated (see par 0007).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to further modify Kume by including a first indicator on the first lateral side of the housing, and a second indicator on the second lateral side of the housing, a shuttle 14 supported by the housing, the shuttle being configured to receive input from a user; and a combined motor activation/forward-reverse switch connected to the trigger and the shuttle the switch being operable to adjust rotation of the motor between a first rotational direction and an opposite, second direction for selectively rotating the cutting disk in the first rotational direction or second rotational direction, respectively; wherein the shuttle is movable between a plurality of positions relative to the housing, wherein a first position of the shuttle adjacent the first indicator corresponds to the first rotational direction of the motor and the cutting disk, and wherein a second position of the shuttle adjacent the second indicator corresponds to the second rotational direction of the motor and the cutting disk; and wherein a position of the shuttle adjacent to the first indicator indicates that an instantaneous rotational direction of the motor and the cutting disk is the first rotational direction and a position of the shuttle adjacent the second indicator indicates that the instantaneous rotational direction of the motor and the cutting disk is the second rotational direction (Claim 1), and the switch is positioned adjacent the handle portion (Claim 2), and wherein the trigger selectively activates the motor; and the shuttle is positioned proximate the trigger for actuating the switch between the first position and the second position (Claim 3), and the shuttle includes a user input portion positioned adjacent the trigger the user-input portion configured to receive user input to laterally move the shuttle relative to the handle portion between the plurality of positions (Claim 4), and the movement of the shuttle towards the first position indicates the instantaneous rotational direction of the motor and the cutting disk in the first rotational direction (claim 23) and the movement of the shuttle towards the second position indicates the instantaneous rotational direction of the motor and the cutting disk in the second rotational direction (Claim 24) and first indicator is a letter (Claim 26), in order to allow the forward reverse switch to be easily seen by a user during actuation there of and thus avoid the switch being inadvertently actuated as taught by Craven.
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kume in view of Tilley, Kohler, and Craven and further in view of USPGPUB 20110005084, Thorson.
Regarding Claims 5, the Kume tool as modified above, discloses all of the limitations of Claim 4 as discussed above.
Modified Kume lacks the shuttle movable to a third position intermediate the first position and the second position, and wherein the third position corresponds to a lockout position of the switch in which the motor remains deactivated in response to the trigger actuating the switch.
Thorson discloses a motorized cutting tool which, like the motorized hand held cutting tool Kume which includes a trigger that moves a cutter in either a reverse or forward direction, par 47.
In addition, Thorson discloses that in such a trigger actuated tool it is known to have a direction switch which is positionable in one of three positions, one position corresponding to a forward direction of the tool, one to a reverse direction and a third position intermediate the first position and the second position, and wherein the third position corresponds to a lockout position of the switch in which the motor remains deactivated in response to the trigger actuating the switch (par. 0044), in order to prevent “inadvertent powering of the motor” (par 0044).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to further modify Kume by including the shuttle and the switch thereof to be movable to a third position intermediate the first position and the second position, and wherein the third position corresponds to a lockout position of the switch in which the motor remains deactivated in response to the trigger actuating the switch, in order to prevent “inadvertent powering of the motor” as taught by Thorson (par 0044, Thorson).
Claims 6-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kume in view of Tilley, Kohler, and Craven, and further in view of USPGPUB 20070120527, Roehm.
Regarding Claims 6-7, the Kume assembly as modified by Puzio, discloses all the limitations of Claim 4 as discussed above.
Modified Kume lacks the housing including a display window, wherein the shuttle includes an indicator portion adjustably positioned within the display window, and wherein a position of the indicator portion relative to the display window indicates an instantaneous rotational direction of the motor and the cutting disk the instantaneous rotational direction being either the first rotational direction or the second rotational direction (Claim 6), the display window being defined by a plurality of slots, wherein the indicator portion includes a plurality of sections positionable relative to the slots by adjustment of the shuttle, wherein one of the sections is aligned with one of the slots to indicate the first rotational direction of the motor and cutting disk, and wherein another one of the sections is aligned with another one of the slots to indicate the second rotational direction of the motor and cutting disk (Claim 7).
Roehm discloses a battery-operated screwdriver which, like the handheld tool of Craven and of the present application, includes a tool head that can be user-selectively driven in multiple directions (par 0008). Roehm also discloses that in such an assembly it is known to include a display window 59 on the housing thereof which includes an indicator portion (LED lights of par 0008) adjustably positioned within the display window (as the lights are either lit or unlit depending on the selected rotation of rotation), and wherein a position of the indicator portion relative to the display window indicates the instantaneous rotational direction of the motor and tool (par 0008), the instantaneous rotational direction being either the first rotational direction or the second rotational direction (par 0008) (Claim 6). Wherein the display window is defined by a plurality of slots (fig 4, slots above the lights 58/57 which lead to arrows 90 and 92), wherein the indicator portion includes a plurality of sections positionable relative to the slots by adjustment of the direction selecting portion of the device (pars 0008 and 0047, since the green or red LED lights which comprise the indicator portion of Roehm are positioned below the corresponding slots 90 and 92 and are selectively illuminated, i.e. positioned below a corresponding slot portion based on the selected rotational direction, which rotational direction is selected via a switch 38), wherein one of the sections is aligned with one of the slots to indicate the first rotational direction of the motor and tool (LED under arrow shaped slot 90), and wherein another one of the sections is aligned with another one of the slots to indicate the second rotational direction of the motor and tool (LED under arrow shaped slot 92) (Claim 7), in order to indicate to a user which direction the tool is rotating in (pars 0008 and 0047).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to further modify Kume cutting tool with the teachings of Roehm’s directional display to include a display window, wherein the shuttle includes an indicator portion adjustably positioned within the display window, and wherein a position of the indicator portion relative to the display window indicates the rotational direction of the motor and wherein the display window is defined by a plurality of slots, wherein the indicator portion includes a plurality of sections positionable relative to the slots by adjustment of the shuttle (since the shuttle of Kume as modified is analogous to the direction controlling switch of Roehm), wherein one of the sections is aligned with one of the slots to indicate the first rotational direction of the motor and cutting disk, and wherein another one of the sections is aligned with another one of the slots to indicate the second rotational direction of the motor and tool in order to indicate to a user which direction the tool is rotating in, as taught by Roehm (pars 0008 and 0047 of Roehm).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see arguments filed 3-30-2026, with respect to the prior art rejection(s) under 35 USC 103 been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. Applicant argues persuasively that the motor axis of Craven is not perpendicular to the Claimed reference plane. Therefore the combination of Craven in view of the other cited references lacks such features.
However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Kume as noted above.
Conclusion
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/FERNANDO AYALA/
Examiner, Art Unit 3724
/BOYER D ASHLEY/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3724
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